Friday, April 2, 2010

Robert Pierce Gillies

April 2 (1827).—Another letter from R.P.G. I shall begin to wish, like S., that he had been murthered and robbed in his walks between Wimbledon and London. John [Archibald] Murray and his young wife came to dinner, and in good time. I like her very much, and think he has been very lucky. She is not in the vaward of youth, but John is but two or three years my junior. She is pleasing in her manners, and totally free from affectation; a beautiful musician, and willingly exerts her talents in that way; is said to be very learned, but shows none of it. A large fortune is no bad addition to such a woman's society.

From Scott's Journal.

The RPG that Scott is frustrated with is Robert Pierce Gillies, a man that has been described by author W. Frye ("Edinburgh under Walter Scott") as an eccentric. Gillies was known to Scott, Goethe, and Wordsworth, to name a few. Gillies authored "Tales of a Voyageer to the Arctic Ocean", among other works.